Beware of some types of porcelain insulators that have a hole that is not glazed, and so is very abrasive. Over time, movement of the wire inside that rough hole (from the wind, etc.) has been known to wear off the plating on the wire where it passes through, exposing the steel core to rust. W8JI mentions this on www.w8ji.com/beverages.htm :
"Ceramic post insulators may look great, but they do not allow floating the wire across the insulator. Even if you do manage to find a ceramic insulator that allows floating the wire, the ceramic will quickly wear away at the constantly moving wire. Avoid ceramic insulators, unless you are prepared to "buffer" the wire through a UV resistant soft plastic bushing!" I sometimes use round plastic insulators with a lag screw molded into them at right angles to the hole. They have a slot at angle to the hole to insert the wire, so that after the wire is tensioned it cannot jump out. There were some photos on Picasaweb linked to from my Beverage antenna page*, but I see that Google has taken that site down. *www.w0btu.com/Beverage_antennas.html 73, Mike www.w0btu.com _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband